DeeJay Kriel believes he is capable to lift a world title belt once again.

A win Saturday night was a step in that direction.

Kriel defeated Jafet Amukwa by unanimous decision Saturday night at the Booysens Boxing Club in Johannesburg, South Africa. Scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 98-92 for Kriel, who improved to 18-2-1, 8 knockouts.

Amukwa was game, and had moments where he scored in the pocket. Kriel was too polished and technical for Amukwa, who was not able to outbox or outthink Kriel, who did the better work overall throughout the fight.

Kriel, who resides in Boksburg, South Africa, is coming off a majority decision win over Thembelani Noche in his last bout on December 9.

The 28-year-old had won the IBF world strawweight title in February 2019, rallying to drop Carlos Licona three times in the final round en route to a knockout win. Entering the final round, Kriel was losing by a wide margin on two of the judges’ scorecards before pulling out the knockout win.

The reign was short-lived as Kriel relinquished the world title belt later that year due to no longer being able to make weight. Kriel would challenge then-IBF world junior flyweight titleholder Felix Alvarado in January 2021, and although he gave a good account of himself he would get dropped twice before losing by knockout in round 10.

Amukwa, who resides in Windhoek, Namibia, falls to 9-5-1, 3 KOs.

Fringe featherweight contender Lerato Dlamini of Linksfield, South Africa knocked out Tanzania’s Hamidu Kwata (13-6-2, 7 KOs) in the third round, improving to 19-2, 11 KOs.

In his previous fight on October 15, Dlamini lost a close unanimous decision to James Dickens in Liverpool, England.

Both Kriel and Dlamini are trained and managed by Colin Nathan.

The card was promoted by Boxing 5 and was streamed on Vision View.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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